Hood latch



Jane 3, WEfi Filed Feb. 14, 1.952

H. KRAUSE ET AL HOOD LATCH 3 Sheets-Sheet l .I/farrzeys Li, Wki H.KRAUSE ETA!- jam,

HOOD LATCH 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 14, 1.952

Inventors jferfierz fli awse Carl ./Z 55 e/ ygflx (G2 .iffozweys Jan. 3,1956 H. KRAusg ETAL 2,729,487

HOOD LATCH Filed Feb. 14, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Q Jn ven Z0215 firerzfiraezse 606 66 Fi 72 r United States Patent-O "cc HOOD LATCH HerbertKrau'se and Carl A. Sigel, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Chicago Forging &Manufacturing Company, Ch!- cago, Ill., a corporation of DelawareApplication February 14, 1952, Serial No. 271,554

4 Claims. (Cl. 292-99) This invention relates to latch constructions forclosure members. More specifically, this invention relates to the art oflatches for automobile closures.

It is an object of this invention to provide a hood latch havingsuperior and advantageous operating characteristics.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a hood latch whereinmovement of a closure of an automobile toward closed position forces alatch member into engagement with the closure.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a latching memberwith improved means for holding the latching member in latchingposition.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved means forreleasing a latch member from operative position and holding it inoperative position.

A still further object is to provide a latch member and a keeper memberwith improved resilient means for returning the latch member toinoperative position.

An ancillary object of this invention is to provide a latch which isoperated with comparative ease and which is designed for convenient useand manufacture thereof.

Other objects of this invention will appear from time to time in thecourse of the following specification and claims.

Reference being taken now to the accompanying drawings, it will be seenthat:

Figure 1 represents an automobile closure member showing the latchdevice of this invention in a preferred location;

Figure 2 represents a sectional view of the latching device shown inFigure 1 taken along the lines 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 represents a plan view of the device shown in Figure 2 takenalong the lines 3-3 of Figure 2 Figure 4 represents a sectional view ofthe latching device in operative position taken along the lines 44 ofFigure 3;

Figure 5 is a sectional view similar to Figure 4 with the latchingmember in inoperative position and the keeper member omitted;

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on the lines 66 of Figure 5 V Figure7 is an end view of the device shown in Figure 4 taken along line 7--7of Figure 4;

Figure 8 shows a modified form of the invention; and

Figure 9 shows an end view of Figure 8.

Referring now in detail to the accompanying drawings wherein likenumerals designate like parts of the invention throughout, 2 representsa hood or closure member of an automobile body indicated generally at 4.In the preferred form of this invention, the latching device isassociated with the hood portion of the automobile and the relativelyfixed body portion 4 of the automobile, and is indicated generally at 6in Figure 1. As is customary in the art of hood latches, the latch isemployed to secure the hood portion 2 to the relatively fixed bodyportion 4 of the automobile.

2,729,487 Patented Jan. 3, 1956 The hood portion 2 carries a normallyfixed keeper member 8 which is attached to a member 12 on the hoodportion by any suitable means such as bolts 10 and attaching portion 11.The keeper member 8 is designed to be engaged by a latching member onthe relatively fixed automobile body portion 4. A base member 18 isfixed to a frame member 16 of the automobile body portion by anysuitable means such as bolts 14. The base member 18 preferably includesa depending portion 19 upon which the latching mechanism is mounted.Pivotally mounted on the portion 19 as at 22 is a latching member 20which is adapted to engage the keeper 8 on the automobile hood. Latchingmember 20 is provided with a bolt portion 24 projecting from anupstanding portion 23 and designed to engage an inclined portion on thekeeper member. By referring to Figure 4, it will be seen that the boltportion 24 and the inclined portion 25 on the keeper are given aninclination so that in latching position the portions 24 and 25 areflush with each other. A flange 26 is provided on the latching member 20and presents a striker adapted to be contacted by a surface 9 on htekeeper 8 as the keeper and its associated hood 2 move toward closedposition. It will be seen, then, that contact of the surface 9 on thekeeper 8 with the striker, or flange 26, will rotate latch lever 20 intokeeper engaging or operative position.

Clockwise movement of latch lever 29 is limited by surface 28 on thebase member portion 19.

Means is provided for holding the latching member 20 in latched positionwith respect to the keeper member 8. In the preferred form of theinvention, this means takes the form of a pawl 30 which is pivotallymounted as at 32 on the latch member 20. Stop projections 34 and 36 areprovided on the latching member to limit relative movement between thepawl and the latching member. Disposed around pivot member 32 which iscarried by the latch member 20 is a coil spring 38 having angularlyarranged opposed ends which abut against stop projection 34 on the latchmember 20 and a stop projection 40 on the pawl 30. It will be seen thatpawl 30 is disposed in angular relationship to latch member 20, and isadapted to engage a ratchet 46 pivoted to the base portion 19 at 48.Detent 42 is carried by the pawl 30 and engages a series of serrations50 on the ratchet 46. A boss 44 (seenbest in Figure 6) is disposed onthe opposite side of the ratchet 46 and serves to guide the movement ofthe pawl 30 with respect to the ratchet. Movement of the latchlever isthus precluded by the engagement of the pawl 30 with ratchet 46. Thepawl may be disengaged from ratchet 46 and permit movement of latchlever 20 in two ways. The pawl 30 may rotate (against the action ofspring 38) clockwise with respect to pivot 32 and latch lever 26) andthus increase the effective distance between pivot 22 and detent 42,resulting in disengagement of detent 42 with ratchet 46. On the otherhand, counterclockwise movement of ratchet 46 about its pivot 48 willdisengage ratchet 46 from pawl detent 42. The movement of the ratchet 46is controlled by a ratchet actuating lever 52.

The ratchet actuating lever 52 is pivoted to the base portion 19 at 54and is. provided with a finger piece 56 for actuation thereof. it willbe understood by those skilled in the art that lever 52 may be actuatedby a cable or any other suitable means. The lever 52 has a connectionwith ratchet 46 which provides four controlling functions for theratchet. The connection permits locking theratchet in pawl engagingposition, releasing the ratchet for freedom of movement of the ratchetout of pawl engaging position, positive motivation of the ratchet out ofpawl engaging position and positive motivation of the ratchet into pawlengaging position.

A projection 58 is arranged on the ratchet locking and releasing lever52 and is received within a slot indicated generally at 60 on theratchet 46. It will be seen that in the position of the projection 58,shown in Figure 2, the projection 58 precludes movement of the ratchet.The slot 60 is provided with an enlarged portion 62 which allowsrelative movement of the ratchet 46 with respect to the projection 58when the lever 52 is swung about its pivot toward the position shown inFigure 5. The slot 60 is provided with a camming portion 64. Uponcontact of the projection 58 with the camming portion 64, as the lever52 is moved toward the position shown in Figure 5, the projection 58will positively swing the ratchet member 46 about its pivot 48 away fromthe pawl carried detent 42. The slot 60 is provided with another cammingportion 66 which is engaged by the projection 53 as the lever 52 movesfrom ratchet releasing position (shown in Figure 5) to ratchet lockingposition (shown in Figure 2). Upon swinging projection 53counterclockwise about pivot 54, the projection 58 will engage cammingportion 66 and cam ratchet 46 into pawl engaging position.

A spring 68 is connected to the latch member 20 as at 76 and to theratchet releasing lever 52 as at 72. The spring 68 thus serves the dualfunction of biasing the latch member 20 toward inoperative position andthe ratchet locking and releasing lever 52 toward locking engagementwith ratchet 46.

Associated with and surrounding the keeper 8, as shown in Figures 2through 7 inclusive, is a spiral spring 74 which is adapted to bias thekeeper 8 and its associated hood closure 2 upwardly. The spring 74 hasone end abutting against attaching portion 11 and has its other endseated on an annular member 78 which is slidably mounted on the keepermember 8. As best seen in Figure 3, the annular member 78 has opposedflanges 8 D and 82 which contact the base plate 18. When thus arranged,the flanges 80 and 82 contact the base plate 18 as the keeper moves intolatching position, shown in Figure 4, and compress the spring 74. Whenthe latch member 20 is released from the keeper, the spring 74 willserve to bias the hood closure 2 upwardly and away from the base plate18. The inclined portion 25 on the keeper cams the inclined bolt 24 ofthe latch lever 20 to inoperative position as the keeper 8 movesupwardly under the action of spring 74.

A modified form of keeper member is shown in Figures 8 and 9. Indicatedat St: is a keeper member which is adapted to be fixed to a fixed member12a on the hood closure by suitable attaching means a and attachingportion 110. A pair of ears 84 depend from the attaching portion 11a intransversely spaced relation to the keeper 8a. A U-shaped spring member86 has its end portions 88 coiled around a pivot member 90. The ends ofthe spring member terminate as at 92 and abut against a keeper attachingportion 11a. The bight portion 96 of the U-shaped spring member abutsagainst base member 18. It will be understood that when the keepermember 8:: moves into latching position, the bight portion 96 abutsagainst the base plate 18 and tensions the coils 88, thus providing aforce biasing the keeper 8a and its associated closure member upwardly,and serving to force latch bolt 24 to inoperative position.

The use and operation of the latching device shown and described hereinis as follows:

Assuming that the automobile closure 2 is in partially raised position,as indicated in Figure 2, and the closure member is started towardclosed position, the keeper member 8 will contact the strike 26 on latchmember 20 and rotate keeper engaging portion 24 into latching engagementwith its mating surface 25 on the keeper. As the latch member 20 movesinto its latching position, pawl 30 will. be swung clockwise, as seen inFigure 2, against the bias of spring 38. This relative swinging of thepawl 30 with respect to the latch member 20 results in an increase inthe affective distance between latch member pivot 22 and ratchetengaging projection 42 on the pawl 30 and moves the pawl detent 42 outof engagement with ratchet 46, thus allowing the pawl 30 and itsassociated latch member 20 to move downwardly, with respect to theratchet, into the position shown in Figure 4.

In the position shown in Figure 4, spring 63 biases latch member 20toward inoperative position. When the keeper 3 is in latched position,the opposed flanges on collar 78 rest on the base plate 18 and compressspring '74. When employing the keeper shown in Figure 8, it will berealized that bight portion 96 of U-shaped spring member 86 restsagainst the base plate 18 thereby tensioning spring 86 to provide aforce biasing keeper member 8a upwardly out of latch engaging position.It is believed well to point out here that both the keeper associatedspring members 74 and 86, respectively, and also the latch spring member68 tend to return latch member 20 toward inoperative position. Thespring members 74 and 86 perform this function by providing a forcetending to move the latch member engaging portions 25 and 25a,respectively, upwardly against mating portion 24 on the latch member 20.

When it is desired to release the latch member from its operative orengaging position, shown in Figure 4, to the inoperative or disengagingpositions, shown in Figures 2 and 5, the ratchet actuating lever isswung about its pivot from the position shown in Figure 2 to theposition shown in Figure 4. Initial movement of the ratchet engagingprojection 58 of the ratchet actuating lever 52 into the intermediateposition of the slot 62 will result in freeing the ratchet 46 formovement away from pawl detent 42. The force of the spring members 68and 74 will be sufficient ordinarily to rotate latch member 20 clockwiseinto inoperative position, as seen in Figure 2 and thus force ratchet 46away from pawl engaging position. As the ratchet actuating lever 52 ismoved toward its extreme position shown in Figure 5, the projection 53will contact projection 64 and positively force ratchet member 46 out ofpawl contacting position. When the ratchet 46 is moved out of pawlengaging position, the latch member 20 will rotate clockwise on itspivot 22 into inoperative or unlatching position.

While it will be realized that we have shown and described a preferredform of the invention, we wish it to be understood that the inventionshown and described herein is capable of such modification as fallswithin the scope of the hereinafter appended claims and that thedrawings and description of the invention herein should be taken only inan illustrative sense and not in any limiting sense.

We claim:

1. In a hood latch assembly for motor vehicles or the like, a basemember having a keeper-receiving aperture therein, a latch lever movablymounted on said base and adapted upon movement thereof to extend intoalignment with said keeper-receiving aperture, a pawl and ratchetholding means between said latch member and said base and formed andadapted to hold said latch lever in said aligned position said pawlbeing pivotally mounted on said latch lever, said ratchet beingpivotally mounted on said base member, an actuating member pivoted tosaid base member for releasing said pawl and ratchet assembly to allowsaid latch lever to move to disengaged position, and resilient meansinterconnected with and extending between said actuating member andlatch lever for biasing said actuating member toward inoperativeposition and said latch lever toward a position out of alignment withsaid keeper-receiving aperture.

2. In a hood latch assembly for motor vehicles or the like a base memberhaving a keeper-receiving aperture therein, a latch lever movablymounted on said base member, a pawl and ratchet assembly between saidlatch lever and said base for holding said latch lever in latchingposition said pawl being pivotally mounted on said latch lever, saidratchet being pivotally mounted on said base member, an actuating memberpivoted to said base member for releasing said pawl and ratchetassembly, said actuating member having a projection in normal lockingengagement with said ratchet, a cam portion on said ratchet memberadapted to be contacted by said projection upon movement of saidactuating member for thereby moving the ratchet member out of engagementwith said pawl and releasing said latch lever and resilient meansassociated with said actuating member and said latch lever for biasingsaid actuating member toward inoperative position and said latch levertoward non-latching position.

3. In a latch assembly for motor vehicles or the like a base memberhaving a keeper-receiving aperture therein, a latch lever movablymounted on said base member and having a keeper-engaging portion adaptedto extend into alignment with said keeper receiving aperture, a pawl andratchet assembly between said latch lever and said base for holding saidlatch lever in said aligned position, an actuating member pivoted tosaid base member for disengaging said pawl and ratchet assembly andreleasing said latch lever, said actuating member having a cammingconnection with said ratchet, said connection including continuouslyengaged cam portions on said actuating member and ratchet adapted tomove said ratchet into and out of pawl-engaging position the cam portionon said ratchet having a part thereon serving as limit means for thetravel of the camming portion on said actuating member.

4. In a latch assembly for motor vehicles or the like a base having akeeper-receiving aperture therein, a latch lever movably mounted on saidbase member and having a keeper-engaging portion adapted to extend intoalignment with said keeper-receiving aperture, a pawl and ratchetassembly between said latch lever and said base for holding said latchlever in said aligned position, said assembly including a ratchetpivoted to said base member and a pawl pivoted to said latch lever, aratchet release actuating lever pivoted to said base member and having amanually operable end portion, an actuating connection between saidactuating lever and said ratchet, said actuating connection including aslot in said ratchet adjacent an end portion thereof and a cammingprojection on said actuating lever permanently positioned within saidslot for movement therein in response to movement of said actuatinglever, said ratchet being held in pawlengaging position when saidprojection is at one end of said slot and in pawl-releasing positionwhen said projection is at the opposite end of said slot and yieldingmeans associated With said actuating means and said latch lever forbiasing said actuating lever toward inoperative position and said latchlever toward a position out of alignment with said keeper receivingaperture.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,211,217 Peterson Aug. 13, 1940 2,211,829 Krause Aug. 20, 19402,246,787 Dall June 24, 1941 2,269,537 Krause Jan. 13, 1942 2,286,740Krause June 16, 1942 2,492,683 Claud-Mantle Dec. 27, 1949 2,507,196 DallMay 9, 1950 2,508,090 Beems et al May 16, 1950 2,693,977 Sigel Nov. 9,1954

